YouTube - Apple, Almond + Salted Caramel Tray Bake
From my One Cake Three Ways series
This Apple, Almond + Salted Caramel Tray Bake is a celebration of comfort and crunch, starting with a nourishing base of grated apple and almond meal—moist, fragrant, and delicately spiced with cinnamon. Topped with a scattering of flaked almonds and a generous amount of salted caramel, it strikes that perfect balance between wholesome and just a little bit wicked. Whether served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or sliced for a morning tea moment, it’s a crowd-pleaser that feels both nostalgic and just a little bit special. One base cake, many moods—this one’s all about sticky fingers and satisfied sighs. Scroll down to watch me prepare the gorgeous thing on my YouTube channel.
VEG | V |
SERVES (10-12)
PREP TIME -15 mins
COOK TIME - 40-50 mins
INGREDIENTS
Base Cake
Dry Ingredients
1 ½ cup SR flour
1 cup almond meal
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp salt (I used locally sourced Lake Deborah salt)
Wet Ingredients
3 eggs
½ cup milk
½ cup yoghurt
½ cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
2 apples, coarsely grated (skin on)
Additional Ingredients
Dry
2 tsp cinnamon
Wet
1 large apple, grated, skin on (plus the two listed in the base recipe)
Topping
½ cup flaked almonds
1 jar (250ml) quality store bought caramel
METHOD
Complete steps 1 - 3 above instructions for base cake
3. Grease and line a square 20cm x 20cm x 4cm cake tin.
4. Pour prepared batter into a cake tin, smoothing the top with a spatula.
5. Drizzle over ½ jar of caramel and spread roughly across the top then scatter flaked almonds.
6. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until the cake springs back when pressed.
7. Allow to rest in cake tin for 10 minutes before serving with extra caramel and a dusting of icing sugar
Serve with vanilla ice cream or double cream
COOKS NOTES
DAIRY
For the milk and yoghurt component, if you don't have quite enough milk or no yoghurt in the fridge, don't worry, just add 1 cup of what you have to hand: milk, yoghurt or both.
DRY MIX OPTIONS
I like to mix up my dry mix and use alternatives. In this recipe, you can swap the self raising flour with : 1 cup Wholemeal Spelt + ½ cup SR flour and 2 tsp baking powder.
I also like to use coconut for texture. Use that if you’d like to replace the almond meal, however I’d swap 1 cup almond meal for 1.25 cups of coconut.
FAT
All cakes require a fat component, the beauty of using olive oil is that it helps to keep the cake moist for days in addition to its plethora of health benefits.
EGGS
Use room temperature eggs. Because the yolks are softer at room temperature, they break much more easily and incorporate well into the other ingredients in the bowl.